The Cornell Bears?

[billhoward]

The bear-on-ice striptease was always tastefully done. Plus the season is a metaphor for one's personal growth at Cornell, and as the end nears, you spread your wings and try a thousand things you hadn't earlier dared.

There is always the possibility we'd find the disrobed bear to be a whorish temptress with illegitmate children (not inside the costume) wearing a North Carolina Central State T-shirt, looking to be banged about by the Zamboni and allegedly hoping for a windfall and publicity, all as explained on FoxNews dot com. Oops, sorry, cross-linked thread.

[Ben Rocky '04]

:-D  Bill, did you graduate in '70?

[marty]

[quote miniteam8s]
BTW - might it be better to maintain the aura of the character (no stripping)?

LGR![/quote]

The striptease was a wonderful surprise when our family was entertained by it and we looked forward to it on several occasions in subsequent years.  I think that one of the really classy parts of this tradition was that the bears heads only came off if the bear was a senior.  I had to have this explained to me and I still smile :-) thinking about it.

[ugarte]

If you want to formalize the mascot, and are a big fan of the striptease, why not go with this?  You would save yourself the "tease" and get right down to business. (SFW, by the way. More or less.)

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

I support having one bear on ice like we did duing my on-campus tenure.  Having male and female bears is a nod to political correctness that I won't support.

I'm not sure it was classy, as Marty notes, though.  One year, the bear concluded the striptease by mooning the crowd.  When he came off he was busted for indecent exposure.  Don't know whether he was actually prosecuted.

Frankly the "Big Red Bears" sounds too much like a movie with Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal (or even worse, Billy Bob Thornton).  I hope we never go there.

[Trotsky]

The only acceptable words to come after "Respectfully Submitted" are "Douglas C. Niedermeyer."

There should be a Student Assembly by-law that mandates that if at any time a referendum held on their proposals determines that 90% of the campus thinks they are wasting their and everybody else's time, then they should immeidately have their hands amputated.

[marty]

[quote Jeff Hopkins '82]
I'm not sure it was classy, as Marty notes, though.  [/quote]

The "classy" remark referring to the removal of the bear heads only if the bear was a retiring senior.  Otherwise our family found it fun/amusing.